Are you interested in a $50 off sale on our new course Finding the Answers in the IDPF?

The Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) is one of the most important files researchers can obtain for World War II service members who died or are still considered Missing In Action (MIA.) The details contained in these files are more than date of death, cause of death, and locations of burials. We learn about the service history, medical history, family stories and grief, decisions which had to be made by family members, family drama, the inability to recover remains, and sometimes connect with other researchers who have requested the file in the past.

This course runs for 10 weeks. You will explore seven extensive modules, which include 27 downloads, case studies, and worksheets. Additionally, you will be given access to an exclusive Facebook Group, in which you can have conversations, share files, and connect with other researchers.

Week 1:Course Introduction and Week 1 American Graves Registration Service

Week 2: Week 2 Locating and Identifying the Dead

Week 3: Continuation of Week 2

Week 4: Week 3 Understanding the IDPF Contents

Week 5: Continuation of Week 3

Week 6: Continuation of Week 3

Week 7: Week 4 Temporary Burial

Week 8: Week 5 Moving Deeper into the IDPF with case studies

Week 9: Continuation of Week 5

Week 10: Week 6 Course Wrap-Up

For the Memorial Day weekend 2018, I am offering a $50 price reduction on the new online course, Finding the Answers in the IDPF. Just click the link to take advantage of this offer which runs until Monday 28 May 2018.

Have you taken time to record the stories of your World War II ancestors and families? One way to get started is to use the Military Memories Writing Prompts to jump start your research and writing. Through these prompts, we explore life on the U.S. home front, women in service, and the lives of all veterans.

Prompt 24: Communication

Do you have any letters, diaries, photographs, or post cards from your military ancestor? Write about their service using these items.

Please share your prompts and responses on your blog and tag them with #militarymemories.

Have you taken time to record the stories of your World War II ancestors and families? One way to get started is to use the Military Memories Writing Prompts to jump start your research and writing. Through these prompts, we explore life on the U.S. home front, women in service, and the lives of all veterans.

Prompt 23: Propaganda

Think about the propaganda at the time of the war. How did that help or hinder support?

Please share your prompts and responses on your blog and tag them with #militarymemories.

Have you taken time to record the stories of your World War II ancestors and families? One way to get started is to use the Military Memories Writing Prompts to jump start your research and writing. Through these prompts, we explore life on the U.S. home front, women in service, and the lives of all veterans.

Prompt 22: Military Service

Did your soldier die in service? Do you know that story and have you obtained the records to tell that story? Were any personal effects returned to the family?

Please share your prompts and responses on your blog and tag them with #militarymemories.

Have you taken time to record the stories of your World War II ancestors and families? One way to get started is to use the Military Memories Writing Prompts to jump start your research and writing. Through these prompts, we explore life on the U.S. home front, women in service, and the lives of all veterans.

Prompt 21: Race and Ethnicity

Is your family Jewish? What was their WWII experience? Do or did they share their stories? How did their experience shape your life? If they left Europe before the war, what happened to their families? What did they endure in the U.S. while the war was fought in Europe? If they remained in Europe – what was their story?

Please share your prompts and responses on your blog and tag them with #militarymemories.

Have you taken time to record the stories of your World War II ancestors and families? One way to get started is to use the Military Memories Writing Prompts to jump start your research and writing. Through these prompts, we explore life on the U.S. home front, women in service, and the lives of all veterans.

Prompt 20: Holidays and Celebrations

How did your family celebrate holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries during the war years? Items on the home front were rationed and on the battlefield, soldiers were lucky to have a hot meal on a major holiday. Do you have any letters from soldiers that talk about the holidays? Do you have photographs of family holidays at home?

Please share your prompts and responses on your blog and tag them with #militarymemories.

Have you taken time to record the stories of your World War II ancestors and families? One way to get started is to use the Military Memories Writing Prompts to jump start your research and writing. Through these prompts, we explore life on the U.S. home front, women in service, and the lives of all veterans.

Prompt 19: The Home Front

Did any of your female ancestors lose a husband? How did that affect the family? When we think about the word ‘lose’ consider those men and women that came back from the war changed in some way either mentally or physically. Did any of your family’s soldiers live in a Veterans Hospital after the war? How did that affect the family?

Please share your prompts and responses on your blog and tag them with #militarymemories.

Have you taken time to record the stories of your World War II ancestors and families? One way to get started is to use the Military Memories Writing Prompts to jump start your research and writing. Through these prompts, we explore life on the U.S. home front, women in service, and the lives of all veterans.

Prompt 18: Communication

Newspapers can add a lot of details to a soldier’s story beyond that of his service. Think about the battles fought, the terrain, the enemy, and the weather. Use newspapers for facts that add depth to a story. Did your soldier fight on D-Day or in the Battle of the Bulge? Perhaps in the Pacific? Locate stories about the weather for major battles in which your soldier fought. Write a scene using the weather to tell a battle story.

Please share your prompts and responses on your blog and tag them with #militarymemories.

Have you taken time to record the stories of your World War II ancestors and families? One way to get started is to use the Military Memories Writing Prompts to jump start your research and writing. Through these prompts, we explore life on the U.S. home front, women in service, and the lives of all veterans.

Prompt 17: Communication

During World War I and II, word traveled by mail, telegram, and on the battlefield, telephone. It took weeks before families were notified of wounds, Prisoner of War, Missing in Action or Killed in Action statuses. Today the communication is almost instantaneous because of cell phones and the internet. Write about communication during the war in which your soldier fought and compare that to today’s communication.

Please share your prompts and responses on your blog and tag them with #militarymemories.

Have you taken time to record the stories of your World War II ancestors and families? One way to get started is to use the Military Memories Writing Prompts to jump start your research and writing. Through these prompts, we explore life on the U.S. home front, women in service, and the lives of all veterans.

Prompt 16: Overseas Service

Were any of your ancestors taken as a Prisoner of War? What was their experience?

Please share your prompts and responses on your blog and tag them with #militarymemories.

Have you taken time to record the stories of your World War II ancestors and families? One way to get started is to use the Military Memories Writing Prompts to jump start your research and writing. Through these prompts, we explore life on the U.S. home front, women in service, and the lives of all veterans.

Prompt 15: The Home Front

On the home front, the view was that men should go off to fight. There were some with statuses that prevented them from serving. Did any men in your family not go off to fight and if so, why? What was his part of the war effort if he did not serve in the military?

Please share your prompts and responses on your blog and tag them with #militarymemories.

Have you taken time to record the stories of your World War II ancestors and families? One way to get started is to use the Military Memories Writing Prompts to jump start your research and writing. Through these prompts, we explore life on the U.S. home front, women in service, and the lives of all veterans.

DEFENSE DEPT PHOTO (MARINE CORPS) 63498

Prompt 14:Soldier Stories. Have you ever used word play to help you write? Sometimes trying our hand at something different helps grow our writing skills. We have all seen movies about war. Use any or all of these words to tell the story of a soldier.

beach

death

shock

guns

noise

enemy roar and smoke

pray

courage

fear

blood stained beaches

absolute terror

explosion

thunderous noise

convoy

Please share your prompts and responses on your blog and tag them with #militarymemories.